Film take-up guiding clip



March 3, 1970 HARUMI TANAKA ET AL 3,498,204

FILM TAKE-UP GUIDING CLIP Filed Sept; 5. 1967 FIGI PRIOR ART FIG. 4

INVENTORS HARUMI TANAKA YOSHIO ASANO BY J 2, Mile Ml s WW ATTORNEYS United" States Patent 01 ,Ffice Patented Mar. 3, 1970 US. Cl. 95-905 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A clip for holding the leading end of a film and guiding it along a spiral groove provided in the inner surface of a developing tank without loosening its grip on the film as the clip moves to the center of the spiral. The clip has a spring-biased pivoted lever nipper arrangement to hold the film tighter as the film tension tends to open the clip when it approaches the center of the spiral. The nipper arrangement consists of an L-shaped lever pivotably mounted about an intermediate lever and forming the lower nipper portion, and a second lever pivotably mounted on the L-shaped lever which forms the upper nipper portion and is biased into engagement with the nipper portion of the L-shaped lever. The intermediate lever has sliding members thereon for engaging the grooves of the developing tank.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Field of invention This invention relates to improvements for clips for holding the leading end of a film and guiding it along a spiral groove on the inner surface of a developing tank.

Prior art Clips are known in the prior art for holding the leading end of a film to be developed and guiding this film by the clip sliding along a spiral groove provided on the inner surface of the developing tank. With such prior art clips, however, the film is capable of coming off the clip as the clip approaches the center of the spiral because of the rapid curvature of the spiral and consequent force applied to the clip by the relatively stiif film tending to open the clip. This is shown in FIG. 1 illustrating the prior art. The clip is slidea-ble in a spiral guiding groove 1 and includes sliding members 2, the trailing one of which mounts pivoted upper nipper portion 3 and lower portion 4 which grip through perforations in the leading end portion of film 5. However, as the clip approaches the center of a spiral the force of pulling on the film 5 tends to open the biased pivoted nipper jaws 3 and 4 as shown in FIG. 1.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides a film guiding clip having a construction to prevent opening of the clip under the forces applied by the film when the clip approaches the center of the spiral.

The film take-up guiding clip of this invention is for use in a film take-up developing tank of a known type having a pair of opposed frames each of which are provided with a spiral guiding groove. The clip has an intermediate lever with a pressure spring and sliding members on opposite ends thereof which slide along guiding grooves in the frames. On the trailing end of the intermediate lever a bent portion of an L-shaped lever is pivotally mounted. On end of the L-shaped lever functions as a lower nipper and the other end pivotally mounts a lever which functions as the upper nipper. The pressure spring biases this latter lever to a closing position. As the clip approaches the center of the spiral groove the force applied by pulling the leading edge of the film will cause pivotal movement of the L-shaped lever and increase the pressure the spring applies to the upper nipper, consequently preventing opening of the nipper jaws.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the film guiding and takeup clip of FIG.-2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 2, sliding members 7 and 8 for guiding the clip along the spiral guiding groove 6 of a film developing tank are mounted on the opposite ends of an intermediate lever 9. The lever 9 is provided with a projection 10 which mounts one end of a pressure spring 11. On the trailing end 12 of the intermediate lever 9, i.e., the end opposite to the direction of movement of the lever, a bent portion 14 of an L-shaped lever 13 is pivotally mounted. One end of the L-shaped lever 13 acts as a lower nipper portion 15 for engaging the film leading end and consequently has a projection 16 upstanding therefrom. At the other end of L-shaped lever 13 is an end portion 17 which pivotally mounts the lower end 20 of a lever 19. Lever 19 has an upper nipper portion 18 integral therewith and this upper nipper portion 18 is provided with an opening 21 for receiving projection 16 of the lower nipper portion 15. The pressure spring 11 bears against only the side of lever 19 to force the upper nipper portion 18 against the lower nipper portion 15. A rotating lever 22 for rotating the film take-up clip is provided as is usual.

The spring 11 need not be a leaf spring as shown in FIG. 2 but could be a coil spring 11' as shown in FIG. 3. In operation, when perforated film is inserted between the upper nipper portion 18 and lower nipper portion 15 of the film take-up guiding clip constructed as in FIGS. 2 and 3, the clip must be opened so that the projection 16 of the lower nipper portion 15 is inserted through the perforation of the film and into opening 21 of the upper nipper portion 18. Then by rotating the clip rotating lever 22 in order to take the film in the film take-up developing tank, the sliding members 7 and 8 slide along the spiral guiding groove 6 and the film is taken up along this groove. As the clip aproaches the center of the spiral, as shown in FIG. 1 in the case of the prior art, the engaged leading end of the film applies a force which works to open the upper nipper portion of the clip.

"n the present invention, however, the same force causes the L-shaped lever 13 to pivot clockwise about end portion 12 of lever 9 so as to move closer to projection 10. Therefore, one side of the lever 19 mounted by end 17 of lever 13 is more strongly biased by spring 11. This urges the upper portion more and more strongly into contact with lower nipper portion 15 so that the film is engaged in the nipper jaws of the clip even when the clip approaches the center of the spiral.

In the present invention with the upper nipper portion and pressure spring related to each other in the construc tion as described, the film never comes off the clip even when the clip is guided near the center of the spiral groove provided on the inner surface of the film developing tank.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments there of, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in the form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A film take-up guiding clip adapted for use with a film take-up developing tank having a pair of opposing frames each provided with a spiral guiding groove, the clip comprising; an intermediate lever having sliding members on opposite ends thereof for engaging the groove, a pressure spring having one end abutting a portion of the intermediate lever, an L-shaped lever pivotally mounted near the center portion thereof to the trailing end of the intermediate lever, one end portion of the L- shaped lever being a lower nipper portion for engaging the film, another lever pivotally mounted on the other and lower end of the L-shaped lever, the end portion of this latter lever being an upper nipper portion cooperating with the lower nipper portion for engaging the film, and the other end of the pressure spring contacting the latter lever and applying additional biasing force thereto as the L-shaped lever is pivoted by the force of pulling on the guided film as the clip nears the center of the spiral guiding groove. f

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS NORTON ANSHER, Primary Examiner FRED L. BRAUN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 24274.2, 77.1 

